1200 Days - Gramps' run at a Kerensky rated career

[Kalliss]

Thank you both for the info, it's really helpful! Sorry I got confused about ally vs honoured. I'll avoid alliances as I'm going Black Market anyway

I restarted my career using the info, and it's a bit more favourable now. Went with Normal XP and No Rare Salvage. Started this time in New Abilene, so no lunar missions this time! There are a few desert and badlands missions but I can cope with those!

Starting lance is Centurion, Enforcer, Commando-B, Firestarter (my fav), and a Locust. Did 0-day refits to up the armour on all mechs, and ditched a few hot weapons.

Done 5-6 drops so far, and the Centurion has 50% ST damage to it's AC/10 arm, and the Firestarter overheated a couple of times (after being set on fire by an enemy Firestarter) so is running about 70-75% ST remaining on all sections. Mechwarriors are a big issue atm also, I've had 3 take head hits so I've had to recruit more (7/8 bays filled atm). It's all still manageable though, and only a 1 skull Escort mission left to do in this system. I'll need to recruit yet another Mechwarrior otherwise I'll need to use myself in a mech which isn't ideal haha

I'll need to think hard about the refits I'll need to do when moving to the next system, the LRM Centurion sounds good

Another question that cropped up was the skill sets of pilots. I see from the early part of the run you mainly went with bulwark and sensor lock split across all pilots. Is having bulwark on most pilots good? Is there a "ideal" skillset to have for a full lance?

 

[MarkDey]

It sounds like you're off to a good start!

I'll need to think hard about the refits I'll need to do when moving to the next system, the LRM Centurion sounds good

Until you make some Argo upgrades and improve the Tech Points, you might only have time to do repairs between systems. However, one thing you could do in the beginning of the game (which I didn't do) was to visit a bunch of jump points. Out of the 170 systems that you need to visit, I think that I only entered orbit for about 70, so that's a lot of systems to fly through. Doing that will give you more time to do refits, heal up, and gain access to the Black Market.

Another question that cropped up was the skill sets of pilots. I see from the early part of the run you mainly went with bulwark and sensor lock split across all pilots. Is having bulwark on most pilots good? Is there a "ideal" skillset to have for a full lance?

I like Bulwark because it's a powerful passive ability. Even if that pilot ends their move in the open, as long as they didn't sprint, they can Brace, and that gives them a 40% damage reduction. Plus, using Resolve to trigger Vigilance on a pilot will also trigger the Bulwark buff.

For my pilots, I think that I had at least 4 with Bulwark because those are the ones being shot at, and they are more likely to get injured from headshots. Sensor Lock is useful so you can have a pilot do something for no heat, and it's required for Master Tactician, which is a great passive buff.

Your 'ideal' setup may be different from mine, but I found that having two brawler mechs (max armor, jump jets, SRMs) piloted by someone with Bulwark and maybe also Sure Footing (if you aren't planning on Master Tactician) was a good front line. Supporting them would be two LRM mechs (thin or no armor, max LRM capacity) piloted by someone with Multi-Target, and eventually Breaching Shot.

 

[Silverhood]

I found that sensor lock, master tactician combined with bulkwark damage reduction far outweighed almost any skill combination early on in the game. With crappy gunnery skills, trying to hit light mechs could be problematic.... after 2-3 sensor locks, they died easily enough. If you had to plug in a rookie pilot due to pilots being hurt, they can still be useful in a light mech if they have sensor lock.
Once you get the master tactician skill on multiple mechs, you can regularly move your entire lance before the enemy can react, disabling the most dangerous one, or getting a headshot at a no evasion no cover mech that spawned as a reinforcement.

 

[Kalliss]

Thanks for the info regarding pilot skills, it's baffled me for a while!

Manage to clear all New Abeline contracts without repairs, moved on to Bonavista. As you mentioned, I spent nearly all the time repairing on the 15 day trip, though did have time to refit the Firestarter to 6X MG's, hopefully as a pilot killer. Also had time to move ammo from the Centurion torso to the legs, but not enough time for a full LRM refit. I've been lucky with salvage, got 4 LRM15's from killing Javelins in the field, and bought a LRM20+ (+1stb) from the shop.

The Heavy Metal box had an Assassin (not sure about this one, firepower seems weak) and 2 Snub PPC's. Still running the same lance as before but picked up a Jenner so might switch out the Commando for that.

Took a 1 skull travel contract so I'll start with that, and there are a bunch of 2 skulls and a single 2.5 skull contract. I'm hoping with a bit of luck I'll get new mechs from the 2 skullers to give me enough to do the 2.5 skull contract.

Completed the first power regulator repair, and now working on Mech Bay 2. After that I'm not sure, I could do with some medical facilities give how often I'm taking head hits sadly haha!